Blanket "cookie cutter" recommendations for mature lifters are useless. A 49-year-old can have a 35+ year training history (good and bad)—they might not have exercised regularly since high school. Of course, the most important areas that almost always require modifying relate to recovery—which fundamentally comes down to improving sleep, and managing stress, both in and out of the gym. But with...

The Big Rocks of a diet & exercise plan are surprisingly flexible. You don’t have to follow specific workout splits, work in certain rep ranges, or include a bunch of "must-do” exercises. Calories don’t have to be the same every day, and you can even work off a 7-day average. The weekly average approach also applies to daily step count—a simple indicator of how much you move but a BIG...

This is one of my favorite sayings concerning exercise programming. You can’t just keep adding exercises, workouts, cardio, conditioning, or even just stuff to do—or remember to do! Everything has a cost, and it all feeds into the equation of time, energy, and focus versus overwhelm. Here’s another way of looking at it: Everything you do or make time for writes a check from your Recovery Bank...

In the '80s, Van Halen was the biggest rock band in the world. Their live performances were legendary, as was their artist rider—the part of the performance contract that specifies everything the artist required to perform that day. The long rider contained a clause requesting that "a large bowl of M&Ms with all brown ones removed” be placed in the dressing room. And while it was frequently...

Muscle needs an incentive to grow, so doing the same work over and over just won’t cut it. You gotta ask for more to get your muscles to wake up and lay down new tissue: * Lift more weight * Complete more reps at the same weight * Add more working sets Otherwise, your triceps are perfectly content to sit back and relax as you fart around in front of the dumbbell rack doing 8 sets of kickbacks...

As a coach, motivation is tricky. Clients sometimes report losing the motivation to continue their program. On the one hand, I think motivation is a bit of a cop-out. You gotta want it—’cause if you do, motivation ceases to be an issue. But it’s also not so cut ‘n’ dried. Losing motivation is interpreted as "the goal just isn't important to me anymore, or at least not worth the amount of work I...

Bulking, massing, “improvement seasons”—whatever you choose to call it—guys are forever screwing it up. First, you've got your "lean gainer." This bro is forever lamenting how he's "tried everything," but still can't seem to grow. A quick scroll through his IG profile shows hundreds of shirtless selfies with single-digit body fat. And that’s admirable … if you’re happy with your current level of...